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House arrest for bus driver who drove kids drunk

By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com

Updated:
04/23/2013 11:01:43 PM EDT

LOWELL -- A 54-year-old former city school bus driver will spend the next six months under house arrest after pleading guilty Tuesday to driving drunk and hitting two parked cars while driving a busload of school children in 2011.

In Lowell District Court, Mary T. Morrison, of Billerica, pleaded guilty to 14 counts of child endangerment and two counts of leaving the scene of property damage during an Oct. 25, 2011 incident in Lowell.

Prosecutor Joseph Galvin asked for a year behind bars noting that as a school bus driver, Morrison was supposed to protect children.

He described her driving the school bus while drunk as "a severe violation of that relationship to the worst extent."

Galvin said Morrison is lucky no one was hurt and there is no restitution.

But Judge Elizabeth Cremens sentenced Morrison to a total of three years probation with the first six months under house arrest during which she must wear a GPS monitoring bracelet, submit to a Sobrietor and only go out for work.

During her probation, Morrison is prohibited from consuming alcohol, must submit to random breathalyzer tests and she cannot drive.

Cremens said she opted for house arrest rather than jail because Morrison had no prior criminal record and except for a speeding ticket, she had no incidents on her driving record.

Defense attorney Joanne Walsh said that Morrison has lost her commercial driver's license, a license she has had for 26 years, seven years of which she has been driving school buses for the company that contracted with the Lowell schools.

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She now works at Dunkin' Donuts.

On the day of the incident, Morrison blew a .10, just over the legal limit of .08, on a Breathalyzer test. Walsh said her client had consumed alcohol the night before to celebrate her birthday, but the effects weren't out of her system by 6:30 a.m. the next morning when she started her bus route.

Galvin said that Morrison picked up her bus monitor at 6:30 a.m. to start her route picking up students for the Lowell Community Charter School on Jackson Street. The bus monitor would later tell police she noticed Morrison was driving erratically.

After picking up six or seven students, the bus monitor told police they were on Broadway Street when Morrison sideswiped two cars and kept on going, Galvin said. She continued to pick up the remainder of the 14 students on her route and drop them off at school.

The bus monitor contacted her supervisor about the incident and Morrison was told to meet her boss at a local hospital, Galvin said. Morrison's speech was slurred and she smelled of alcohol, Galvin said. She blew .10 on a portable Breathalyzer.

Afterward, the bus company contacted the Lowell police who went to Broadway Street, found the damaged cars, and began an investigation.

Walsh told the judge that Morrison is an excellent candidate for probation since she has already begun counseling and accepts responsibility for what she has done.

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